Preaching Initiative Named for Sister Joan Delaplane, OP

October 17, 2013, St. Louis, Missouri – Sister Joan Delaplane, OP, received special recognition from Aquinas Institute of Theology recently: the Dominican graduate school named their new preaching initiative in her honor.

Aquinas Institute received a $500,000 grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., to fund The Delaplane Initiative for Preaching Excellence. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen preaching among Catholic clergy at all levels. The funding will allow the Delaplane Initiative to hire a director and support personnel, provide scholarships, and perform program and outcome evaluations.

In addition, the funding will enable Aquinas to upgrade their preaching lab to include state of the art audio, video, and recording technology to help preaching students develop their skills.

Sister Joan, Emerita Professor of Homiletics at Aquinas Institute, is currently a spiritual director who frequently leads retreats. She was the 2001 recipient of Aquinas Institute’s 2001 Great Preacher Award in recognition of the ways that her words and actions made an outstanding contribution to the building up of the Catholic community.

Aquinas Institute, a Roman Catholic graduate school of theology located in St. Louis, is sponsored by the Central Province of the Dominican Friars, and is the only Catholic institution that offers a doctorate in preaching. The Order of Preachers, Dominicans, were founded by St. Dominic in the 13th century to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ in a world fraught by heresy.